Christian Bale Attacked By Chinese Guards

Christian Bale is currently in China for the premiere of his movie, The Flowers of War, but the actor got more than he bargained for when he made a special trip to meet human rights activist Chen Guangcheng!

The visit went sour when The Fighter star and his CNN film crew got attacked by the local police.

Here's the scoop: Christian drove for eight hours from Beijing to a small village in the east end of the country to meet the blind 40 year-old lawyer. He's been held under house arrest for the past 15 months, as noted by RadarOnline.

Upon arrival, Christian and crew got a less than cheery welcome. A plain-clothed guard shouted, "Go away!"

The actor questioned why he can't visit this man and at that point was shoved violently by several guards. CNN reporter Steven Jiang noted, "They're pushing Christian here and we're just trying to leave peacefully."

As the film crew retreated, the aggressors were on the attack! They chased them in a mini-van and Christian caught it on a flip-cam. "I'm not being brave doing this," he explained. "The local people are standing up to the authorities and going to visit Chen, and being beaten up for it and detained for it."

Turns out, Chen's imprisonment is the result of his campaign against forced abortions and how villagers are treated in China. Back in 2006, he was sentenced to more than four years in jail for disrupting traffic and damaging property. Last year he was released but since then, he hasn't been allowed to leave his house. Plus, cops have the property and village in lock-down mode!

Christian added, "This doesn't come naturally to me but this was just a situation where I thought, 'I can't look the other way.' What I really wanted to do is shake the man's hand and say thank you, tell him what an inspiration he is."